Caster.



' Patented Au 8, I899. ,1. A. masms & .1. c. ONEIL. g

G A S T E R.

(Application filed Dec. 14, 1898.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. HIGGINS AND JOHN O.- ONFIL, OF MILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 630,696, dated August 8, 1899.

Application filed December 14,1898. Serial'No. 699,258. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN A. HIGGINS and JOHN C. ONEIL, citizens of the United States, residing at Milford,in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gasters; and we dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to Inake and use the same.

Our invention relates to an improved caster, and more particularly to a caster designed for use in shops where lint, thread, waste, and the like are liable to be lying on the floors; and the object of our invention is to produce a caster which will prevent the roller from picking up such lint and waste and wrapping it around the bearing of the caster in such manner as to choke it.

To this end, therefore, our invention con sists of the improved caster hereinafter described, and more particularly set forth in the claim.

In the preferred form of our invention illus-- trated in the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a sectional elevation on the line a m of Fig. 1, of our improved caster.

1 indicates the base of our caster, which is adapted to be secured by screws .or other suitable means to the structure it is designed to support. Pivotally mounted on the base is the caster-yoke 2, which supports the antifriction-rollers 3, which in use is adapted to support, and rotate with relation to, the base in the usual manner. The downwardly-pros jecting arms 4 of the yoke 2 embrace the caster-roller 5, which is supported upon the pin 6 in the usual manner.

In order to prevent the roller from picking up lint or waste and winding the same about the pin 6, we have provided the caster-roller 5 with protecting-plates 7, mounted upon the hub 8 of the caster-roller and held in proper position by the shoulder 9 of the said hub. These protecting-plates 7 are flat circular disks fitting into the sides of the caster-roller plates 7 are each provided with two lugs 10, which are projected outwardly from the sides of the protecting-plates and embrace between them the arms 4, thus holding the protectingcaster-roller and the arms 4 the lugZlO would absolutely prevent the same from falling or working gradually downward to the pin 6.

We are aware that it has been proposed in the prior art to construct casters with protectin g-plates made integral with the arms which embrace and support the caster. Such construction, however, necessitates the making of the caSter-yokes in two or more parts, which have to be secured together by suitable connecting means. In our improved caster, however, the yoke 2 and its arms are made in one integral piece, whereby connectingmeans for holding separate parts of the same together is entirely dispensed with and the structure materially simplified, besides which the devices of the prior art require when acaster is to be replaced the entire caster and base be removed from the structure to which it is secured, while in our caster in the event of the roller being accidentally broken it is only necessary to remove the pin 6 and replace the caster-roller with a new one without removing the base from the structure to which it is secured. This feature is of no inconsiderable importance, as it not infrequently happens that casters are broken, as also the fact that very much less labor is required in repairing our caster after such accident than that required to repair similar devices of the prior art.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent of the .United States In a caster, the combinationwith abase, of a yoke pivotally supported by'said base, a caster-roller, a pin for supporting said roller in the arms of the yoke and protecting-plates 5 flush with the edges of the same. The 1 set in the sides of the caster-roller and flush with the edges thereof, provided with outwardly-projected lugs adapted to engage the arms of the yoke and to hold the protecting-plates from rotation with the caster-roller and to prevent the access of lint or waste to the bearing of the same, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN A. HIGGINS. JOHN C. ONEIL.

Witnesses:

T. HART ANDERSON, HORACE VAN EVEREN. 

